Dr. Slump
For the Character nicknamed "Dr. Slump" see Senbei Norimaki Dr. Slump (Dr. (ドクター) スランプ, Dokutā Suranpu) is a gag manga series by Akira Toriyama that was serialized in Shueisha's anthology comic Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1980 to 1984 and eventually compiled into 18 tankōbon. The series helped to launch Toriyama's career and was awarded the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen and shōjo manga in 1982. Themes Dr. Slump is filled with puns, bathroom jokes and parodies of both Japanese and American culture. For example, one of the recurring characters is "Suppaman", a short, fat, pompous buffoon who changes into a Superman-like costume by eating a sour-tasting ("suppai" in Japanese) umeboshi. Unlike Superman, Suppaman can't fly well, and instead pretends to fly by lying belly down on a skateboard and scooting through the streets. In the game Super Dragon Ball Z, in the city level, by breaking the porta-potty, Suppaman (with the hiragana "su" character on his chest) will roll off on his skateboard. Also, a policeman in Dr. Slump can be seen wearing a Storm Trooper helmet, just as in the American movie Star Wars. Setting Dr. Slump is set in Penguin Village (ペンギン村, Pengin Mura), a place where humans co-exist with all sorts of anthropomorphic animals and other objects. Plot In Penguin Village lives Senbei Norimaki, an inventor (his name is a pun on Senbei, a kind of rice cracker). His nickname is "Dr. Slump" (a joke that can be seen as similar to nicknaming an author "Writer's Block.") In the first chapter, he builds what he hopes will be the world's most perfect little girl robot, named Arale Norimaki (a pun on another kind of rice cracker), in scenes obviously parodying the Italian children's classic Pinocchio. Because Senbei is a lousy inventor, she soon turns out to be in severe need of eyeglasses. She is also very naïve, and in later issues, she has adventures such as bringing a huge bear home and having mistaken it for a pet. To Senbei's credit, she has super-strength (and, in a Dragon Ball crossover, she proved to be genuinely stronger than the young Son Goku, prompting him to train harder). In general, the manga focuses on Arale's misunderstandings of humanity and Senbei's inventions, rivalries, and romantic misadventures. In the middle of the series, a continuously-appearing villain named Dr. Mashirito shows up who is based on Toriyama's editor at the time. Manga Dr. Slump is a gag manga. The Dr. Slump manga has been licensed by Viz Media and is currently being published in graphic novel form. The English translation is done by Alexander O. Smith. Dragon Ball, though the original ''Dragon Ball'' TV program and early manga chapters, are much closer to Dr. Slump in its style and humor. Anime ''Dr. Slump & Arale-chan'' The original anime adaption to the manga was called Dr. Slump & Arale-chan (Japanese: Dr.スランプ アラレちゃん) and ran from 1981 to 1986 and spanned 243 episodes. ''Dr. Slump'' (1997 remake) The second anime ran from 1997 to 1999 and featured 74 episodes. In addition to the series, 11 animated films have been made. Crossovers with Dragon Ball After the original manga ended, the characters of Dr. Slump returned for an extended cameo in Toriyama's next manga and anime series Dragon Ball (chapters 70-73, or manga volume 7). Arale Norimaki and Goku briefly team up to defeat General Blue during the General Blue Saga. Arale Norimaki also makes a smaller cameo in the movies Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure, and in Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug as a picture on Gohan's wall. Because of these cameos (and other similarities), many fans consider the two series as taking place in the same fictional universe. The manga cameo showed a distinct change in the author's art style by that time, making Arale Norimaki and the gang look somewhat bloated. The characters later appeared in the third manga called "Chotto Kaettekita Dr. Slump" (loosely translated: "Dr. Slump Returns, But Only For a Little While"). Suppaman also makes a brief cameo, trying to stop General Blue. When General Blue proves his strength, Suppaman promptly begs for forgiveness for his earlier taunts (he tried to show off being strong by breaking 3 bricks with one punch, which also hurts his hand. General Blue then promptly lifts and crushes a phone booth effortlessly). Goku also makes a brief cameo, trying to stop Mashirito (in the manga and anime). Canonicity Dr. Slump is implied to exist in the same universe as Dragon Ball by the cast and Penguin Village appearing in the General Blue Saga. It is implied as well that its place in the Dragon Ball timeline is before the events of Dragon Ball since all of the characters are in the positions they held at the end of the series (examples: Tsun Family residing in Penguin Village, Taro being a cop, Midori being married to Senbei and Turbo existing, Obotchaman existing, Gatchan #2 existing, etc.). In this way, it can be viewed as a prequel, much like CLAMP's Angelic Layer was a prequel to Chobits. However, many parts of Dr. Slump do in fact contradict it from being in the same universe as Dragon Ball, for the obvious reason that it was written before Dragon Ball was. Many real world locations and landmarks that don't exist in the Dragon Ball universe are shown to exist. One major contradiction is a character in Dr. Slump named "Kami" who is an old man who bears a similar appearance to Master Roshi and is the guardian of Earth. His existence is a direct contradiction with Kami from Dragon Ball, who is also the guardian of Earth but is a Namekian. Release The original 1980s series ("Dr. Slump and Arale-chan") will be released on Region 2 DVD in Japan in two parts. The "N'cha collection" was released in March 2007.Amazon.co.jp： Dr.スランプ アラレちゃん DVD-BOX SLUMP THE BOX んちゃ編: DVD: 小山茉美,内海賢二,向井真理子,杉山佳寿子,古川登志夫,神保なおみ,玄田哲章,鳥山明 The "Hoyoyo Collection" was released in September 2007. English Distribution It is unknown if the anime will be dubbed in the English language, even though it was licensed by Harmony Gold, but only had a segment of a single episode dubbed before the company lost the rights shortly after. Characters & Cast This is a list of all the characters from Dr. Slump that appeared in Dragon Ball related media. Video Games In Jump Super Stars, Arale Norimaki and Mashirito are battle koma (playable characters), with the latter as the game's main antagonist. They both return in the sequel, Jump Ultimate Stars, in exactly the same roles. Senbei Norimaki isn't playable but is a Help Koma that can strengthen Arale Norimaki if his Koma is adjacent to Arale Norimaki's Koma. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Arale Norimaki appears as a playable character. Influence on Japanese culture Trademark expressions from the manga include: *"N-cha" (Senbei's greeting and apparently a truncation of "konnichiwa"; also used by Arale). *"Bye-cha". *"Hoyoyo" (an expression used by Arale Norimaki to signify bewilderment or mild confusion). *"Kiiiiiin" (Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of an airplane engine). *"Cul" (Arale talk for, "Cool") These expressions had gone on to become part of Japanese culture. In addition, the round glasses Arale wears have inspired the Japanese phrase "arare megane" (Arale Norimaki glasses). In the manga, Toriyama himself has been portrayed as a bird (the "tori" in his last name means "bird", hence the name of his production studio Bird Studio), although Toriyama actually based the design of Senbei on himself (as a number of American comic strip artists have been known to do). He has also portrayed himself as a small robot with dark goggles, and simply a middle-aged man with dark sunglasses and contagion mask (signifying anonymity). In addition, other real people made appearances as well, such as Toriyama's bosses (like Kazuhiko Torishima), assistants, and wife, Toriyama's colleague friends (like Masakazu Katsura), and others. Anime staff *Director: Minoru Okazaki, Yoshiki Shibata, Daisuke Nishio, Akinori Nagaoka *Script: Masaki Tsuji, Shun'ichi Yukimuro, Tomoko Konparu, Michiru Shimada *Character Designs: Shinji Koike *Animation Director: Shinji Koike *Music: Shunsuke Kikuchi References External links *Dr. Slump Wiki *Official Site *http://the.animearchive.org/drslump/1/ *Arale's Jumpstation Dr Slump Fan site Category:Dragon Ball media Category:Related Manga